Customer Reviews

Complete Ballades, Impromptus and Sonatas

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great book. I have used it on numerous occasions and can give no more than an absolute satisfactory report. Often, publishers write incorrect fingering and/or dynamics, and this book appears to have not subdued to that level. The publishers obviously knew what Chopin wanted and delivered just that instead of placing marks they thought were appropriate.

This collection is well-offered. However there are a few things you should be wont to know:

First off, the pages are scripture-thin. I prefer a heavier page.

More importantly, the editor often mixes the right and left hand cleffs. what I mean is, the editor places the right hand and left hand on the same cleff when it is convenient for him. I however, find this more difficult to sight read because you can't tell where one hand's chord ends and the others begins. It's like the laziest kind of writing.

Also the printing is not perfectly sharp (but it is acceptable).
So there are probably better (clearer) editions if that's what you're looking for. I would buy this again for its price, however.

I've had this book for several years, and have marked it up, dog-eared it, spilled coffee on many pages, and otherwise treated it with familiar reverence. It has become a great friend.

The type-setting is crystal-clear. The edition notes are instructive. The pages never fall out, even if you crease the spine to keep the book flat against the piano stand.

Then, of course, there's the glorious music itself. So much magnificent music in one volume. Perhaps we should even see this as one of the Great Books of the Western World.

I'm a pianist/piano teacher. I choose this edition for teaching my students. This is a complete book at lower price. The book is durable. Pages don't come out easily.

I have not found a less expensive score than Dover. The book is sturdy and the pages are bound tightly. I put my scores through much use, and none of the pages have ever fallen out of the Dover editions. One thing to note about this score is that it's edited by Mikuli, one of Chopin's pupils; the older Dover publications of this book had edits by Paderewski, which I actually prefer over Mikuli. However, the fingerings are only minor issues.

I'm currently studying this piece, and bought this item, which looked just like my teacher's, only it's edited by Carl Mikuli instead of Paderewski. (both have the perry winkle front cover). There are significant changes in dynamics and articulation. I spent one week marking it up, only to find that my teacher is making me buy the other one - the Paderewski, and that edition's pages are thicker, darker, and less crammed onto the pages. We compared the two editions and it is a big difference. The Paderewski is more recognized and favored as being better.

It has everything that it says it has, I made the mistake of thinking that I could play any of it. The Impromptus are very tricky, as with the ballades. The easiest piece in the book is Fantasie Impromptu and that is not an easy piece at all. The sonatas are the hardest to play with strange rythms and fluctuations that are unexpected.